For this post, I wanted to dive deeper into one of my favorite investment + philanthropy collaborations we’ve made at Rise Together, with Flexport. I view Flexport as a “shining star” example of how startups can apply their scalability and core competencies to effect change in a powerful way.
Let’s first take a look at Flexport’s impact initiatives. High-level, Flexport.org enables organizations to deliver global aid and impact and meet their sustainability goals with greater ease and lower costs. We can bucket their impact into two areas:
Environmental Impact: Yes, global trade can have negative environmental consequences; to combat this, Flexport created a carbon offset program that their clients can easily enroll in to calculate and offset their carbon emissions from shipping products. They also help companies avoid unnecessary waste by supporting the donation of excess inventory through a network of nonprofits that connect companies with unwanted inventory with those who need it most. Flexport has helped Bombas (an awesome impact-focused company btw) donate 1.2 million pairs of socks to those in need. (Did you know that socks are the most-requested item at homeless shelters?)
Social Impact: Flexport offers significant discounts on international shipping services to NGOs and nonprofits as well as dedicated support for greater shipping efficiency. They also created the Flexport.org Fund which takes donations to pay for transportation costs for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations (and Flexport coordinates these shipments for free). This enables the movement of emergency supplies during times of disaster — such as right now, during the Ukrainian crisis — by fast-acting logistics experts.
I especially love Flexport’s impact initiatives because they leverage their unique capabilities and resources as a for-profit business to do good:
They are experts in logistics and shipping, so it makes sense for them to help non-profits who are not experts in shipping to quickly and efficiently move goods around the world;
They have a vast network of clients that are able to contribute excess inventory to those in need, which Flexport can connect with the right nonprofits to do so;
They have an awesome team of engineers that have the right skillset to build a user-friendly digital tool to easily enable their clients to offset their carbon footprints each time they book a shipment with Flexport;
Their .org is supported by a thriving and enduring for-profit business and thus does not face the challenges of annual grant cycles that most nonprofits must live and die by.
Flexport is not what most would consider a classic “impact” company in the same way an edtech or health startup is — but that doesn’t mean that they can’t do a hell of a lot of good.
As part of our equity investment into Flexport, Rise Together also donated to the Flexport.org Fund — capital that immediately supported Flexport’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, including the shipment of over 1mm pounds of aid. As a result of Flexport’s expertise in shipping, ability to act quickly, and the available funds in Flexport.org’s fund, they were able to ship one of UNICEF’s first shipments of emergency supplies in response to the emerging crisis in Ukraine. So cool. (You can also donate here!)
As Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator and fellow Flexport investor tweeted,